


Each Thing Harder Than the Last

by mousapelli



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 16:33:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17247620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mousapelli/pseuds/mousapelli
Summary: Tsukishima finds out you can absolutely fall in love with somebody you've only met half a dozen times in your life, and eventually finds out they can fall in love with you too.





	Each Thing Harder Than the Last

**Author's Note:**

  * For [artenon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artenon/gifts).



> Written for 2018 SportsFest, Remix round. Original fill that I remixed [here](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/7464.html?thread=346152#cmt346152). 
> 
> Every single sentence of this tried to change to present tense and I know know why. WHYYYY. if changing tenses was a remix possibility i'd have had 1000 sportsfest pts.

Tsukishima fell in love on the second day of training camp. If he'd been asked about it at the time, he would have said that was ridiculous, that his heart was racing because of playing all day, that his palms were sweaty from having his fists clenched, that all the blood was pounding in his ears from his run up the punishment hill in the heat. The sun had set while they were playing their last practice match, even at the top of the hill, the sky hazed with pinks and oranges and bruising purple at the edges.

"LOOK!" Hinata had yelled from flat on his back in the grass, pointing. "It's the first star! Make a wish!"

"That's Venus," both Tsukishima and Kuroo said at the exact same time. Tsukishima had looked over in surprise, and after a second Kuroo had laughed.

"I knew you were a nerd," Kuroo said, almost to himself, the tone of it deeply satisfied, as if something he'd hypothesized had proven totally correct. The same Kuroo who had been helping him for two nights running for what seemed like no reason, unless you count torturing first years a reason.

"You're a nerd," was Tsukishima's scathing comeback. Not his finest work.

Kuroo smirked. "Your face is a nerd."

"YOUR MOM'S A NERD!" Hinata crowed, just to get into it. Tsukishima wondered if he gave Hinata a good enough shove if he'd roll down the hill and keep going until he fell into the ocean. Laughing, Kuroo heaved himself to his feet, then stuck his hand out for Tsukishima.

Tsukishima gave him a narrow-eyed glare, but took the hand up. He felt all those feelings, heart race palm sweat ears pounding, and still didn't think they meant anything. He felt them during extra practice, Kuroo's hands correcting his form, and when Kuroo suggested trading contact info. He felt them when Kuroo messaged to say that he had some time over winter break if Tsukishima wanted to hang out.

As he was coming down the stairs from the train platform, Tsukishima caught sight of Kuroo lurking anxiously just past the exit gate a second before Kuroo spotted him. When Kuroo did, his smile unfolded all at once and he lifted a hand to wave enthusiastically, openly and obviously happy that Tsukishima was here. Tsukishima felt the exact same feelings in his chest and palms and ears, with nothing at all to explain them in the cold air except that a very cute senior was so excited to see him that he was making a scene in his home train station.

"Oh no," Tsukishima whispered, because finally he sort of got it, and he would have stopped dead in his tracks but the crowd of commuters swept him along with them towards the gate like a loose pebble in a river. He fumbled his ticket trying to get it into the slot and caused a jam-up, and Kuroo laughed at him.

"Is this a date?" Tsukishima asked as soon as they were out on the sidewalk, because he wasn't into suspense.

"Yeah," Kuroo answered, the noise of traffic almost covering it up. He looked unsure, sheepish, and Tsukishima hated it. "Yeah? If you want it to be."

"I didn't spend three hours on a train for volleyball tips," Tsukishima informed him, and that made Kuroo laugh at least. They got lunch, went to the arcade, and then spent the rest of their time at karaoke. Kuroo wrapped his fingers through Tsukishima's, and his thumb rubbing over Tsukishima's knuckles kept a permanent blush on Tsukishima's face. Tsukishima went home with a basketball-sized Kirby from the UFO catcher and the terrible knowledge that you actually could fall in love with someone you'd met half a dozen times in your entire life.

It was hard to be distance, but nice to feel so wanted. It was nice that the situation stretched all their firsts to take months instead of days or weeks, that both of them sent a steady stream of texts and pictures which meant, in essence, _I wish you were here to see this_. The longest week of Tsukishima's life was the week Kuroo smashed both his forearm and his laptop slipping down some icy steps of his university. They could text, but Kuroo had to spend all his free time in the computer lab to finish a mid-term project, also wrecking their plans for him to come up to Miyagi for the weekend.

It took all week for Kuroo's laptop to get fixed. Kuroo's face was sheepish when it finally filled Tsukishima's screen, his forearm in a bright red cast. Tsukishima's chest ached so fiercely with how much he wanted to be together that he clenched his jaw tight enough to ache.

"Are you really mad?" Kuroo asked. "I'm sorry."

"No." Tsukishima had to look away or he'd die, so he looked at his ceiling a minute. "I'm not. How long do you have to wear that thing?"

"At least five more weeks," Kuroo sighed. "All I can do at practice is run. I guess it's better that it happened as a first year, but it still sucks."

"Then don't be careless next time," Tsukishima said, sharper than he meant to. He dared another look down and there was still an ache in his chest, but it was back to almost normal. "Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't tickle." Kuroo dragged a hand through his hair; Tsukishima felt the sense memory of doing that on his fingertips. "Typing was a bear all this week, but I guess the worst is over." Tsukishima wishes he thought that were true.

When Kuroo got the apartment, Tsukishima knew they were going to sleep together the first time he came down to spend the night there. They didn't talk about it, just like they hadn't talked about why they haven't done it yet, but he knew. He felt like his whole body was charged with static electricity the whole trip down to an unfamiliar station, the whole walk back to Kuroo's place. Tsukishima knew he should have been memorizing the route but he couldn't concentrate on it, his skin buzzing with Kuroo's nearness. He's glad the wind is a good excuse for his pink cheeks and ears, and the way his glasses fog up when he steps inside.

It was small and the building was fairly old, but Kuroo showed him around proudly, as if Tsukishima couldn't see the entire thing from basically the door. Kuroo was telling him about how he and Bokuto rescued his couch from the sidewalk two blocks over and Tsukishima could barely concentrate on the words until finally he couldn't take it anymore.

"Would you just kiss me already?" he demanded, cutting Kuroo off mid-word. As soon as the words were out he flushed more furiously than any amount of wind could excuse, and Kuroo was laughing as he cupped Tsukishima's face in his hands and did exactly that. Kuroo kissed him long and slow and sweet, like they'd never felt relaxed enough to do behind the questionable protection of either of their home bedroom doors. Tsukishima felt just like he had that first day on the hill, heart racing and palms sweaty and blood pounding in his ears, so much of it that he could barely breath.

Love was exactly like a punishment hill when your team kept losing to everybody, Tsukishima thought dourly when they were catching their breath an hour later, sprawled across Kuroo's futon with sweaty limbs tangled together, everything blurry without his glasses on. He almost said it out loud, but Kuroo didn't look like he was on a punishment hill run when Tsukishima turned his head to squint at him. Kuroo's face, even with his eyes closed, was lit up with the soft pleasure of getting something you've wanted for ages, like eating the coldest popsicle of your favorite flavor on the hottest day of summer. There was no way Tsukishima was going to say out loud the depths of his suffering when Kuroo looked like that.

Getting out of bed the next morning (well, actually afternoon), was the hardest thing Tsukishima ever had to do. Except for putting all his shit back in his bag, and letting Kuroo tug one of his own T-shirts over Tsukishima's head, and then kissing fiercely in the entryway because they wouldn't be able to kiss goodbye at the station. Every single part of it was harder than the thing before, and Tsukishima wondered if he was even cut out for this sort of thing because he was exhausted of it already and they weren't even outside yet.

"Uuuuugh," he complained when they were standing at the corner, waiting for the walk light that was taking forever, wind going right through his jeans and coat and scarf. "This weather sucks. Fix it before I come back here."

"Tsukki!" Kuroo burst out laughing, charmed as ever by Tsukishima's unreasonable demands. But then he looked up, eyes still lit up in amusement and said, "Geez, I love you."

The walk signal finally lit up, but neither of them noticed because they were frozen staring at each other. Kuroo looked horrified by what he'd just done, and Tsukishima couldn't reassure him because his whole universe was realigning itself into a universe where Kuroo was suffering over him just as much as he was over Kuroo. Kuroo loved him. He was in love with Kuroo and Kuroo _loved_ him.

Then he threw himself at Kuroo, there was no other word for it, almost taking both of them crashing to the sidewalk as he crushed him in a hug. When Kuroo hugged him back, Tsukishima squeezed tighter like they were locked in competition, when really it was just that Tsukishima's feelings had reached critical mass and they would have to call him Fukushima from now on.

"Me too," he managed to choke out. "I love you, too."


End file.
